One call
by H6p8gv
Summary: Neither Sophie or Charlie could have predicted how one call could upset their world...
1. Chapter 1

A/n I would like to thank my pal hippogriff-tamer for all her help with the story. I do not own letters to Juliet just the idea

The sun was still fairly high in the sky as Sophie Hall and Charlie Wyman meandered down the pathway in search of a shaded picnic table. There were hardly any people around them despite it being a Monday afternoon.

"So Rob invited us to a barbeque this weekend," Charlie said as he scanned the route they were taking.

Sophie swallowed a fry she was munching on from her recently purchased bag of fish and chips. "Rob from your firm?"

Charlie nodded.

"Isn't that close to July fourth? I thought you Brits didn't celebrate that day since America kicked your butts in the Revolution."

He smiled. "We aren't celebrating the fourth. Besides you Americans only won because you had the advantage of knowing the land."

"Are you saying that if the war was over here in England that you would've won?" Sophie's voice was teasing.

"Yes," Charlie answered simply.

She laughed, linking their arms together.

He raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just nice being here with you. No jobs, no interruptions…"

"You mean like women coming up asking us about Gran and Lorenzo?"

"Exactly, though it has gotten better."

When the story Sophie wrote about Claire and Lorenzo finding each other after fifty years was published it had become an instant hit. In the ten months since Sophie and The New Yorker have been flooded with mail from women wanting to share their gratitude for sharing Claire's story and tell Sophie how it gave them hope that love would one day find them. Many wanted to know more about the Bertolinis and Wymans. When Sophie moved to London her fans followed, managing to locate the place she now shared with Charlie. They even found out where they worked, waiting outside to ask questions. Charlie thought they were meddlesome and though Sophie tried to be gracious when approached she even had to admit that the attention was growing tiresome.

"Sophie Hall?" a low voice asked. Sophie and Charlie both turned to see a young woman with dark hair wearing a faded plaid skirt and white shirt.

Sophie gave Charlie a sympathetic look before answering her. "Yes?"

"My friends and I just got back from visiting Verona. It was beautiful, but seeing all those girls crying while writing letters to Juliet was heartbreaking…"

Sophie smiled politely as the young woman spoke. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you were going to write another story," she finished.

"Maybe one day," Sophie answered diplomatically.

The young woman grinned. "Thank you. It was nice meeting you," she said as she started off.

"You're welcome," Sophie managed before she was once again alone with Charlie.

Sophie turned back to Charlie when she heard her cell phone ring.

"Will you hold this?" she asked indicating her bag of food.

Charlie nodded and shifted his own bag of fish and chips to the other hand before taking hers.

"Thanks," she told him before wiping her hand on her jeans; she was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt. Opening her brown messenger bag she grabbed her cell.

"Hello?" she said answering it.

"Oh, hi Bobby. We are doing fine, you?" she replied a moment later.

There was a pause while Sophie listened to Bobby on the other end. Though she no longer worked for The New Yorker full time, she still wrote freelance for the magazine.

"A new story on Claire and Lorenzo… I'd love to," she said finally, adding "They want me to fly to New York tomorrow for a meeting…" She looked at Charlie but his expression was unreadable.

"Okay," she said before listening some more. A few minutes later she hung up the phone and placed her cell back in her messenger bag.

"That was Bobby. He says that they want me to write a follow-up story on Claire and Lorenzo. He said that they booked me on a flight to JFK tomorrow morning so I can meet with him."

Charlie didn't respond.

"I know its last minute but…"

"I understand," he stated.

She hesitated then asked "You do?"

He nodded.

By the time they arrived home, Sophie had become increasingly concerned. Charlie had been unusually quiet while they ate.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" she asked a minute after entering their house.

He had grabbed the mail before opening the door and was going through it.

"Another one," he muttered, not answering her.

She placed her messenger bag down on a cedar table near the door. "Another what? Charlie, what's going on? You've barely spoken since Bobby called."

"A letter from another fan. This time it's postmarked Indiana," he finally answered, holding out a white envelope to her.

Sophie took it from him, glancing at the front of it.

"There's only one but not for long," he told her.

She looked back at him. "It won't be that bad with this new story."

He ran his hand through his hair. "How do you know? Answering letters is one thing but Sophie a girl followed me to a client meeting; a meeting that he allowed if it was me and him. She wanted to ask me about you and Gran. I'm glad that my client didn't see her or he might have thought a reporter followed me and ended what turned out to be a informative venture."

Sophie gasped. "She was breaking the law wasn't she? You could have called the police."

"I didn't want to cause anyone trouble. You don't either. That's why neither one of us has called these girls and women in."

True, Sophie knew what they were doing was wrong, but she'd just figured they'd stop.

"I can talk to Bobby about it when I see him," she told him.

Charlie groaned. "What can he do? He's all the way across the Atlantic…This is so frustrating!"

Sophie wanted to comfort him but as she started towards him she dropped the envelope she was holding. Charlie bent to retrieve it. Straightening up, he noticed the return address.

"Patricia Hall? Isn't that the same name as your mothers?"

Sophie nodded, looking down at her hands.

He lifted her chin with his finger. "Sophie?"

She stared into his cerulean eyes. "It is from my mom."

He looked startled. "What! I thought that she left and you haven't heard from her since?"

"I hadn't heard from her until three months ago. She sent me a letter saying that she read my story. Her friend showed it to her after recognizing my name."

"Three months…were you ever going to tell me?"

"I didn't think to," she replied earnestly.

"Didn't think to…Sophie why?"

Tears formed in her eyes. "She only sent three letters, including this one. I didn't think it was important to tell you."

His tone turned from upset to anger. "Not important! Sophie, your mum contacted you after sixteen years!"

Sophie didn't know how to respond. Charlie didn't allow her. He reached for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sophie asked, surprised.

"I need time alone." With that he opened the door and left.

Sophie let the tears flow once she was alone. Charlie had every right to be angry with her. The first letter from her mom had been such a shock that she didn't know how to respond to it; if she should respond to it. She did want to tell Charlie since they didn't like keeping secrets from each other, but she wanted to decide what she was going to do first before she told him. She hoped that he would return soon so that she could explain that to him.

He was still gone four hours later. Sophie had left unanswered messages on his voicemail. She was sitting on the sofa, reading _Jane Eyre_, waiting for him. Her orange tiger cat, Romeo, jumped up on the sofa and rubbed on her arm before lying next to her leg. Putting the book down, she scratched his head and back. "He'll return won't he?" she asked Romeo. He purred. She grinned slightly. "I think so too."

Her cell phone rang and she answered it on the first ring. "Charlie?"

She sighed, disappointed. "Oh, hi Lorraine."

"No nothings wrong," she told her friend, a fact checker at _The New Yorker_. She didn't want to discuss what had happened earlier just yet.

"Anyway, I'm glad you called. I am going to be in New York for a couple days and I was wondering if I could stay with you…"

She listened to her friend for a few moments. "I can. Thank you."

They talked for several more minutes, making arrangements to meet at the airport the next day. As she hung up with Lorraine, Sophie wondered if Charlie would return soon so that they could talk before she left for New York.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Sophie awoke to something furry against her face. She opened her eyes to find a pair of brown ones staring back at her.

"Good Morning, Romeo," she said, her voice still sounding groggy.

He bumped his forehead against her and Sophie scratched his head before sitting up. Purring, he sauntered over to her pillow and laid on it. Shaking her head and grinning at Romeo, she looked over to see if Charlie was still asleep only to find his side of the bed empty. Memories of the previous night came flooding to the forefront of her mind at the thought of him. With a heavy heart she got up and searched the rest of the house hoping that she would have the opportunity to talk to Charlie before she had to leave. Only he was nowhere to be found.

"Oh, Charlie," she sighed, despondently.

Still hoping that he'd come back before she left, Sophie set about making scrambled eggs and toast. As minutes went by she began to realize that she wasn't going to see him so she packed what she needed for New York and did some last minute arrangements before heading to the airport in a taxi cab.

By the time the plane landed in New York City Sophie had pushed her argument with Charlie to the back of her mind and started to focus more on her meeting with Bobby. All thoughts of Charlie returned when she saw her friend, Lorraine, waiting for her by the front of the terminal with a concerned expression on her face.

"Hi, Sophie," Lorraine said, hugging her.

Sophie returned the hug halfheartedly. "Hi. I've been through customs and have my bags so I'm all set." She was pulling a medium sized black bag behind her.

"Soph," Lorraine began but Sophie was looking towards the automatic glass doors and not at her.

Sophie led the way outside where they found three taxis awaiting passengers. They slid into the first one and Lorraine gave the diver her address. Sophie mostly remained silent, answering only a few questions about her trip across the Atlantic Ocean and the upcoming meeting with Bobby.

Sophie placed her bag on the floral printed comforter and unzipped it. Lorraine had shown Sophie into her small office which doubled as a guest room. There was a small square wooden table and chair adjacent to the twin sized bed

Sophie was to sleep in.

"Soph," Lorraine began again as Sophie took some clothes and toiletries out of her bag.

"It's been a long flight so I think I'll freshen up," Sophie said, not answering her friend.

"Okay."

When Sophie returned Lorraine was sitting next to her luggage. "Are you ever going to tell me what's wrong?"

Sophie knew that she wouldn't stop until she got an answer. "Charlie and I had a big argument last night."

Lorraine's eyes widened. "What happened!"

"You know that he's been upset over all the attention my story about Claire has been getting…"

Lorraine nodded.

Sophie sat next to her friend. "Well, he's afraid that with the new story it will only get worse and to add to the fire when he saw the mail, he found a letter from my mom."

Lorraine gasped. "Your mom!"

Sophie nodded solemnly. "She has written a few letters to me but I never responded to them."

""So why did Charlie get angry over that?"

"I didn't tell him about the letters. I was waiting until I had decided if I was going to respond to them or not."

"Oh," Lorraine said.

"Yeah, 'Oh' is right. And to make things worse, he walked out before I could explain that to him and I haven't seen him or heard from him since."

Lorraine put her arm around Sophie. "I'm so sorry, Soph. I can't believe you two had a fight like that. You two seem like an ideal couple."

"Well, we've had our differences but we've never had an argument like this before."

Lorraine suddenly stood, jarring Sophie. "You know what we need?" she asked her.

"What?" Sophie responded.

"We need some wine and comfort food. I think Chinese; what about you?"

When the food arrived, they placed the cartons on Lorraine's circular kitchen table. Sophie sat, savoring the smells of chicken lo mein, pork fried rice and chicken and vegetables. Lorraine joined her, carrying a bottle of white wine and two glasses. Sophie gave her a questioning look at seeing the bottle.

"You look like you could use a drink," Lorraine answered, pouring some wine into a glass and handing it to her.

Sophie took a sip.

Lorraine passed her a carton before opening a clear container containing soup. She dipped a spoon in it and blew on the contents before tasting. "Hmm…hot and sour soup…" she said before asking, "So Charlie was upset over a letter from your mom?"

Sophie nodded.

"Did you read any of the letters she sent?"

"I didn't read the newest one but the others I did."

"What did they say?"

Sophie took a bite of lo mein. "She wrote that she had read the story and that she was so proud of me. She remembered my telling her one day that I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid. She was overcome with emotion upon learning Claire's story and was so happy that they got their 'fairytale ending'"

"That doesn't seem so bad though I am surprised she waited all this time to contact you," Lorraine said after sipping her wine.

"I was shocked upon reading the first letter. I didn't recognize the name on the return address at first," Sophie admitted.

"What's her name?"

"Patricia Hall," Sophie answered.

"Patricia? Isn't that the same name as Charlie's ex-girlfriend and cousin?"

"Yes."

Lorraine laughed. "You seem to know a lot of Patricia's."

Sophie gave her a small grin. "I do."

Lorraine turned more serious. "Your mom sounds like a person who wants to use your fame for some kind of gain."

Sophie had to concede that Lorraine had a valid point. Her mom left her when she was nine and she hadn't heard from her until the letters about her story.

"I wonder what Charlie would say to that idea?" Lorraine continued.

Sophie frowned upon hearing his name. "I don't know. I don't even know when I'll see him or if I will."

Lorraine grinned sadly. "I'm sure the two of you will patch things up."

The next day Sophie was set to meet with Bobby as she knocked on his door.

"Enter," he called from the other side.

She opened the door and walked in. "Bobby."

He looked up at her from behind his papered desk and smiled. " Ah, Miss Hall, so wonderful to see you. I take it you had a nice flight?"

She grinned back. "Yes, thank you."

"Please take a seat," he told her motioning to the brown chairs in front of his desk.

Sophie sat down in the one to her right, smoothing her skirt as she did so. She was wearing a black skirt and white blouse.

Bobby cleared his throat. "So, as you know I called you here about writing a follow-up piece to your story about the letter you found in Verona and the woman…"

"Claire," Sophie supplied.

He shook his head slightly. "Right, Claire finding her former love."

Sophie waited for Bobby to continue.

"We were thinking to start with having the story be five hundred words. There'd be room for negotiation if need be," he told her.

Sophie jotted the information down in a small notebook she'd retrieved from her black purse she had with her. "This being a follow-up do you want me to write about how Claire and Lorenzo got married and his family?"

Bobby nodded. "I was thinking that you could write about if they are still happy and how his family views Claire and all that's happened to bring them together."

"Okay," Sophie told him, taking more notes.

"Also, I was thinking you could add something about what's become of the grandson..."

"Charlie," Sophie finished, hoping that the sadness in her voice at him being mentioned escaped Bobby's notice.

"Yeah, Charlie."

"When do you want it by?" Sophie asked wanting to go onto another topic.

"We want it to be published in the September issue," he answered.

Sophie nodded. They talked for several minutes more before ending the meeting.

When it was time for Sophie to head back to London, Lorraine went with her to the airport.

"Thanks again for letting me stay," Sophie said as they hugged.

"You're welcome," Lorraine replied.

Sophie started to walk away when Lorraine said "Charlie can't stay mad for long, trust me."

Sophie stopped and turned to her friend, confusion and wonder etched on her face.

Lorraine smiled at her expression. "I've known you too long. You aren't hard to read."

Sophie smiled at her last words; the first genuine smile in days. "I'll call you after I land."


	3. Chapter 3

The sun was beginning to set as Sophie stepped out of Heathrow Airport and hailed a taxi cab home. It was not an easy flight for thoughts of Charlie were on her mind again. Her brief time in New York had helped her forget her worries for a short time but in London she would have to face them head on. By the time the plane was close to the airport, Sophie realized that she needed to put herself in Charlie's shoes. If it had been the other way around she would have been as upset as he had been. By the time the plane landed, she knew that she wanted set things right.

She paid the cabdriver and got out when they reached her house. She grabbed her key and unlocked the door, flipping the switch to the nearest light as she walked in. A pair of eyes, the shade of yellow more than brown appeared in front of her.

"Hey, Romeo," Sophie said as he came out and rubbed her leg. She put down her bags and leaned down to run her hand along his back.

Rising, Sophie noticed a soft glow coming from the living room. She hesitated, wondering if she should call the police but a second later, thought the idea was foolish. Still, she grabbed her cell phone pushing nine-nine-nine, the British equivalent to nine-one-one, with her finger poised over the send button as she walked towards the living room. As she approached the room, she saw long legs clad in dark pants illuminated by the lamp nearest the couch. Phone in hand she walked a little closer and jumped when she saw a person sitting on the couch.

"Charlie!" she gasped, her free hand flying to her chest as she almost dropped the cell phone.

Charlie stood and faced her. "Sorry, Sophie didn't mean to scare you."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, placing the cell phone on coffee table which was a few feet in front of her.

"I live here," he said curtly.

Sophie looked down embarrassed at having asked such a brainless question.

He sighed, looking ashamed. "I didn't mean to be so harsh. Actually I was waiting for you."

She looked up. "You were?"

He nodded. "I wanted to apologize for getting so upset the other night…"

"You have every right to be upset," she interrupted. "I should be the one apologizing. I kept something from you that I shouldn't have."

"Why did you?" He sounded hurt.

"I should've told you. At first I didn't know what to think. I haven't heard from my mom in such a long time. I never answered the first one and I thought that was the end of them but then she sent more. I wanted to wait until I figured out if I was going to respond before saying anything." As she spoke, tears formed in her eyes.

Charlie gently pulled her into his arms, her head on his chest, by his collarbone.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice muffled by his shirt.

She felt him sigh. "I wish that you would have told me. My last relationship ended because she kept things from me."

Sophie stepped back slightly and gazed up at him. "Patricia," she whispered.

He nodded sadly. "When I left here after our argument I just wandered around for a while. I didn't know how but I ended up outside my office. It was the same place I went after I found out about the affair."

She placed her hand against his cheek. "I know that she hurt you by cheating on you with a colleague but I'm not Patricia."

"I know you're not," he said. "But we are in a relationship and communication is key to any relationship."

Sophie dropped her and from his cheek. "I agree and I promise not to keep anything from you ever again."

Charlie grinned as he pulled her back to him and kissed her forehead then hair. Sophie and Charlie stood that way; his arms encircling her and her head pressed against his chest for a few silent moments. When she looked up at him he was still grinning. He lifted her chin a little and leaned down to place a kiss on her lips. "How was New York?" he asked when they parted.

"The meeting with Bobby went well and Lorraine thinks that my mother is only interested in contacting me because my story has become so popular." She went on to tell him the content of the letters.

He led her to the tan leather sofa and they sat side by side. Romeo jumped up and lay on the arm of the sofa "I wondered why she would contact you after all these years."

"So you agree with Lorraine?" she asked, absentmindedly scratching Romeo's head.

He leaned over and grabbed a glass of lemonade that sat on the table next to the sofa. He moved it to the coffee table and placed his arm near where it had sat. "I have to agree that your mom would want to be associated with your success especially since that's what she wrote about."

Sophie nodded. "What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

"I think that I'd treat her as a fan."

"And if she contacts me again?"

"You can reexamine whether or not you want to write her back."

"_We_can reexamine…" she told him, gently squeezing his hand.

Charlie smiled at her. "We can reexamine what should happen then."

Sophie yawned.

"Why don't you go take a bath? I'm sure you'd like to get into some fresh clothes and hit the sack after your plane ride."

She looked down at her gray Brown University t-shirt and faded jeans. "That does sound nice." She stood and took a step before turning around.

"What is it Soph?"

"Bobby and I discussed ways to deal with current and any future fan mail at our meeting."

"How?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Bobby's going to have a note placed at the end of the story asking for people to send any letters to_The_ _New__Yorker_ and a mention that the writer does not want to be personally contacted."

"I see how that might deter future mail but what about current."

"He said that we could send what we've received to _The__New__Yorker_ and ask the postal office if there's a way we could separate and forward any fan letters to New York."

"Do you think it'll work?"

Sophie shrugged. "It's worth a try."


	4. Chapter 4

Italy….3 months later

Claire smiled as she placed the copy of The New Yorker on the black wrought iron table. "It's wonderful!"

Sophie grinned appreciatively. "It's getting a good response."

Sophie and Claire were sitting outside the Bertolini villa since the weather was still warm.

"I never doubted it would," Claire told her.

"Nor did I," Charlie said from behind them. He walked over and sat next to Sophie.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "We're just glad that Bobby's ideas worked."

"So what have you two been up to?" Charlie asked a moment later.

"We went to the market and a couple boutiques," Claire answered before adding "We saw some beautiful white dresses."

"Gran, I just asked Sophie to marry me a few weeks ago," Charlie reminded her, taking Sophie's left hand in his. She wore a quarter carat princess cut diamond.

Claire just smiled. "It's never too early to start looking."

"They were beautiful," Sophie conceded. "But I'd like to wait until we pick a date and venue before buying a dress."

"All right," Claire said, drinking some iced tea. "I won't press you."

"Yet," Charlie added sarcastically.

"We were tentatively thinking next summer or fall," Sophie told her.

Claire nodded approvingly. "Have you given any thought to where you'll like to be married?"

Charlie rolled his eyes at her. "Gran, I thought you weren't going to press."

"Well, Sophie mentioned the possibility of the date being next year," Claire said innocently.

Charlie shook his head while Sophie laughed. "She's right, Charlie I did."

Claire started to stand. Charlie hopped up and pulled out her chair. She smiled and patted his arm in gratitude before asking "So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"Lorenzo wanted to see me this afternoon," Charlie answered.

"I thought I might do some writing," Sophie replied a second later. She had just started writing an original short story that she was thinking of turning into a novel.

Claire frowned. "But it's so beautiful out."

"I'll go out for a walk or something later," Sophie promised.

"And I'll go with her," Charlie added. "That is if it's all right with you, Soph."

Sophie smiled. "Of course it's all right."

Seemingly satisfied by their answer, Claire walked into the villa. Sophie rose from her chair and Charlie grabbed her chair for her.

"Thanks," Sophie murmured as she strolled into the villa and up the stairs.

She found her brown messenger bag on her white desk chair and opened it to take out her notes for the story. Upon grabbing the notes an envelope slipped out onto the wooden floor. Sophie placed the notes on the desk and bent to pick up the envelope.

"What's that?" Charlie asked. He was standing in the doorway having followed Sophie upstairs.

Sophie looked up at him. "It's the last letter my mom wrote; the one that arrived at our home in London that day Bobby called about the story on Claire."

He nodded, letting her know that he remembered that day and night.

"I must have put it in my bag and forgotten about it."

He came closer to her. "I know you wish things could have been different with your mum."

"It's okay. Everything's worked out for the best hasn't it?"

"I think it's worked out well," Charlie said, giving her a quick kiss. "Anyways, I'll leave you to your story. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

She grinned at him. "Okay. You still owe me a walk later."

"I won't forget


End file.
